deprecated

No longer used.

Available values are defined as constants upon the BackgroundGeolocation class.

Name
BackgroundGeolocation.ACTIVITY_TYPE_OTHER
BackgroundGeolocation.ACTIVITY_TYPE_AUTOMOTIVE_NAVIGATION
BackgroundGeolocation.ACTIVITY_TYPE_FITNESS
BackgroundGeolocation.ACTIVITY_TYPE_OTHER_NAVIGATION
BackgroundGeolocation.ACTIVITY_TYPE_AIRBORNE

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  activityType: BackgroundGeolocation.ACTIVITY_TYPE_OTHER
);

ℹ️ See also:

• Apple docs.

break

By default, the Android plugin will ignore a received location when it is identical to the previous location. Set true to override this behavior and record every location, regardless if it is identical to the last location.

In the logs, you will see a location being ignored:

TSLocationManager:   ℹ️  IGNORED: same as last location

An identical location is often generated when changing state from stationary -> moving, where a single location is first requested (the BackgroundGeolocation.onMotionChange location) before turning on regular location updates. Changing geolocation config params can also generate a duplicate location (eg: changing distanceFilter).

⚠️ Only JWT is currently supported.

The SDK will automatically apply the supplied token to HTTP request's Authorization header, eg:

"Authorization": "Bearer abcd1234..."

If provided with Authorization.refreshUrl and Authorization.expires, the SDK can automatically re-register for a new token after expiration.

ℹ️ See also:

• Authorization.
• BackgroundGeolocation.onAuthorization.

example

// Get a reference to your app's Authorization token.
let myToken = this.getMyAuthorizationToken();

BackgroundGeolocation.onAuthorization((event:AuthorizationEvent) => {
  console.log("[authorization]", authorization.success, authorization.response, authorization.error);
});

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "https://app.your.server.com/users/locations",
  autoSync: true,
  authorization: {
    strategy: "JWT",
    accessToken: myToken.accessToken,
    refreshToken: myToken.refreshToken,
    refreshUrl: "https://auth.your.server.com/tokens",
    refreshPayload: {
      the_refresh_token_field_name: "{refreshToken}"
    },
    expires: myToken.expiresAt
  }
});

break

Default is true. If you've enabled HTTP feature by configuring an url, the plugin will attempt to HTTP POST each location to your server as soon as it is recorded. If you set autoSync false, it's up to you to manually execute the BackgroundGeolocation.sync method to initiate the HTTP POST — the SDK will continue to persist every recorded location in the SQLite database until you execute BackgroundGeolocation.sync.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "http://my.server.com/locations",
  autoSync: true,
  params: {
    user_id: 1234
  }
})

---

⚠️ Warning: autoSyncThreshold

If you've configured autoSyncThreshold, it will be ignored during a onMotionChange event — all queued locations will be uploaded, since:

• If an onMotionChange event fires into the moving state, the device may have been sitting dormant for a long period of time. The plugin is eager to upload this state-change to the server as soon as possible.
• If an onMotionChange event fires into the stationary state, the device may be about to lie dormant for a long period of time. The plugin is eager to upload all queued locations to the server before going dormant.

---

ℹ️ See also:

• autoSyncThreshold
• batchSync
• maxBatchSize

break

Defaults to 0 (no threshold). If you configure a value greater-than 0, the plugin will wait until that many locations are recorded before executing HTTP requests to your server through your configured url.

ℹ️ Configuring autoSyncThreshold in conjunction with batchSync true can conserve battery by reducing the number of HTTP requests, since HTTP requests consume far more energy / second than GPS.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "http://my.server.com/locations",
  autoSync: true,
  autoSyncThreshold: 5,
  batchSync: true
})

             1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
Locations: __|__|__|__|__|____|__|__|__|__|___...

                        POST             POST
  Network: ______________|________________|___...

---

⚠️ Warning

autoSyncThreshold will be ignored during a BackgroundGeolocation.onMotionChange event — all queued locations will be uploaded, since:

• If an onMotionChange event fires into the moving state, the device may have been sitting dormant for a long period of time. The plugin is eager to upload this state-change to the server as soon as possible.
• If an onMotionChange event fires into the stationary state, the device may be about to lie dormant for a long period of time. The plugin is eager to upload all queued locations to the server before going dormant.

---

Just as in iOS 13/14, Android 11 has changed location authorization and no longer offers the [Allow all the time] button on the location authorization dialog. Instead, Android now offers a hook to present a custom dialog to the user where you will explain exactly why you require "Allow all the time" location permission.

This dialog can forward the user directly to your application's Location Permissions screen, where the user must explicity authorize [Allow all the time]. The Background Geolocation SDK will present this dialog, which can be customized with backgroundPermissionRationale.

• Android will offer the backgroundPermissionRationale dialog just once. Once the user presses the positiveAction on the dialog, it will not be shown again (pressing [Cancel] button does not count).
• If the user resets your application's Location Permissions to [Ask every time], the backgroundPermissionRationale can be shown once again.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
 locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always',
 backgroundPermissionRationale: {
   title: "Allow {applicationName} to access to this device's location in the background?",
   message: "In order to track your activity in the background, please enable {backgroundPermissionOptionLabel} location permission",
   positiveAction: "Change to {backgroundPermissionOptionLabel}",
   negativeAction: "Cancel"
 }
});

Template Tags

A limited number of template-tags are supported in each of the attributes, by wrapping with {tagName}:

Template Tag	Default value	Description
{backgroundPermissionOptionLabel}	Allow all the time	(API Level 30) Gets the localized label that corresponds to the option in settings for granting background access.
{applicationName}	Your App Name	Returns the localized name of your application from AndroidManifest

 

See also:

• locationAuthorizationRequest
• BackgroundGeolocation.requestPermission
• Location udpates in Android 11

Default is false. If you've enabled HTTP feature by configuring an url, batchSync true will POST all the locations currently stored in native SQLite database to your server in a single HTTP POST request. With batchSync false, an HTTP POST request will be initiated for each location in database.

batchSync: true — All accumulated locations POSTed in 1 HTTP request.

example

// Using batchSync: true
BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "http://my.server.com/locations",
  autoSync: true,
  autoSyncThreshold: 5,
  batchSync: true
})

             1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
Locations: __|__|__|__|__|____|__|__|__|__|___...

                        POST            POST
  Network: ______________|________________|___...

batchSync: false — 1 POST per location

example

// With batchSync: false
BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "http://my.server.com/locations",
  autoSync: true,
  autoSyncThreshold: 5,
  batchSync: false
})

             1  2  3  4  5    1  2  3  4  5
Locations: __|__|__|__|__|____|__|__|__|__|___...

                         POST             POST
  Network: ______________|||||____________|||||___...

ℹ️ See also:

• maxBatchSize
• autoSync
• autoSyncThreshold 📘 See HTTP Guide

break

Defaults to false. When set to true, the plugin will emit debugging sounds and notifications for life-cycle events of BackgroundGeolocation.

iOS

In you wish to hear debug sounds in the background, you must manually enable the background-mode:

[x] Audio and Airplay background mode in Background Capabilities of XCode.

Event Debug Sound Effects

Event	iOS	Android
LOCATION_RECORDED
LOCATION_SAMPLE
LOCATION_ERROR
LOCATION_SERVICES_ON		n/a
LOCATION_SERVICES_OFF		n/a
STATIONARY_GEOFENCE_EXIT
MOTIONCHANGE_FALSE
MOTIONCHANGE_TRUE
MOTION_TRIGGER_DELAY_START	n/a
MOTION_TRIGGER_DELAY_CANCEL	n/a
STOP_DETECTION_DELAY_INITIATED		n/a
STOP_TIMER_ON
STOP_TIMER_OFF
HEARTBEAT
GEOFENCE_ENTER
GEOFENCE_EXIT
GEOFENCE_DWELL_START		n/a
GEOFENCE_DWELL_CANCEL		n/a
GEOFENCE_DWELL	GEOFENCE_ENTER after GEOFENCE_DWELL_START
ERROR
WARNING	n/a
BACKGROUND_FETCH		n/a

Defaults to 0 (no defer). If you pass a value at least 2x larger than the interval specified with locationUpdateInterval, then location delivery may be delayed and multiple locations can be delivered at once. Locations are determined at the locationUpdateInterval rate, but can be delivered in batch after the interval you set in this method. This can consume less battery and give more accurate locations, depending on the device's hardware capabilities. You should set this value to be as large as possible for your needs if you don't need immediate location delivery.

The following constants are defined upon the BackgroundGeolocation class:

Name	Location Providers	Description
BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_NAVIGATION	(iOS only) GPS + Wifi + Cellular	Highest power; highest accuracy
BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_HIGH	GPS + Wifi + Cellular	Highest power; highest accuracy
BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_MEDIUM	Wifi + Cellular	Medium power; Medium accuracy;
BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_LOW	Wifi (low power) + Cellular	Lower power; No GPS
BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_VERY_LOW	Cellular only	Lowest power; lowest accuracy
BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_LOWEST	(iOS only)	Lowest power; lowest accuracy

⚠️ Note:

• Only DESIRED_ACCURACY_HIGH uses GPS. speed, heading and altitude are available only from GPS.

example

BackgroundGeoloction.ready({
  desiredAccuracy: BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_HIGH
});

For platform-specific information about location accuracy, see the corresponding API docs:

• Android
• iOS

Defaults to 100. If a location arrives having accuracy > desiredOdometerAccuracy, that location will not be used to update the odometer. If you only want to calculate odometer from GPS locations, you could set desiredOdometerAccuracy: 10. This will prevent odometer updates when a device is moving around indoors, in a shopping mall, for example.

WARNING This option is ignored when manually invoking BackgroundGeolocation.sync.

break

Note the following real example of "elasticity" on highway 101 towards San Francisco as the driver slows down while running into slower traffic — locations become compressed as distanceFilter decreases.

ℹ️ See also:

• elasticityMultiplier
• distanceFilter

break

You will be responsible for handling disabled location authorization by listening to the BackgroundGeolocation.onProviderChange event.

By default, the plugin automatically shows a native alert to the user when location-services are disabled, directing them to the settings screen. If you do not desire this automated behavior, set disableLocationAuthorizationAlert: true.

iOS

The iOS alert dialog text elements can be configured via locationAuthorizationAlert and locationAuthorizationRequest.

Android

Android can detect when the user has configured the device's Settings->Location in a manner that does not match your location request (eg: desiredAccuracy. For example, if the user configures Settings->Location->Mode with Battery Saving (ie: Wifi only) but you've specifically requested DESIRED_ACCURACY_HIGH (ie: GPS), Android will show a dialog asking the user to confirm the desired changes. If the user clicks [OK], the OS will automcatically modify the Device settings.

This automated Android dialog will be shown in the following cases:

• BackgroundGeolocation.onProviderChange
• BackgroundGeolocation.start
• BackgroundGeolocation.requestPermission

example

BackgroundGeolocation.onProviderChange((event) => {
  console.log("[onProviderChange] ", event);

  if (!provider.enabled) {
    alert("Please enable location services");
  }
});

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  disableLocationAuthorizationAlert: true
});

break

Defaults to false. Set to true to disable asking the user for this permission.

iOS

The plugin is HIGHLY optimized for motion-activity-updates. If you do disable this, the plugin will drain more battery power. You are STRONGLY advised against disabling this. You should explain to your users with an appropriate NSMotionUsageDescription in your Info.plist file, for example:

"Motion activity detection increases battery efficiency by intelligently toggling location-tracking" off when your device is detected to be stationary.

Android

Android 10+ now requires run-time permission from the user for "Physical Activity".

Traditionally, the background-geolocation Android SDK has relied heavily upon the Motion API for determining when to toggle location-services on/off based upon whether the device is moving vs stationary. However, the Android SDK has a fallback "stationary geofence" mechanism just like iOS, the exit of which will cause the plugin to change to the moving state, toggle location-services and begin tracking. This will, of course, require the device moves a distance of typically 200-500 meters before tracking engages. With the Motion API authorized, the Android SDK typically requires just a few meters of movement for tracking to engage.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  disableMotionActivityUpdates: true
});

Android has done this automatically due to the difficulty with some platforms' implementation of Headless Tasks (enableHeadless), where Cordova and Capacitor require implementations using Java code, which is often difficult for most developers.

Some developers' servers have strict HTTP JSON payloads and possibly using locationTemplate, where it's impossible to template the automatically appended provider key in the payload.

Set true to disable this default behaviour.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  disableProviderChangeRecord: true
})

break

iOS

Disables the accelerometer-based Stop-detection System. When disabled, the plugin will use the default iOS behavior of automatically turning off location-services when the device has stopped for exactly 15 minutes. When disabled, you will no longer have control over stopTimeout.

To completely disable automatically turning off iOS location-services, you must also provide pausesLocationUpdatesAutomatically false.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  disableStopDetection: true,
  pausesLocationUpdatesAutomatically: false
});

⚠️ iOS location-services will never turn off!

With the above configuration, iOS location-services will never turn off and you could quickly discharge the battery. Do not do this unless you know exactly what you're doing (eg: A jogging app with [Start workout] / [Stop Workout] buttons executing BackgroundGeolocation.changePace).

iOS Stop-detection timing

Android

Location-services will never turn OFF if you set this to true! It will be purely up to you or the user to execute BackgroundGeolocation.changePace false or BackgroundGeolocation.stop to turn off location-services.

However, by default, distanceFilter is elastically auto-calculated by the plugin: When speed increases, distanceFilter increases; when speed decreases, so too does distanceFilter.

break

ℹ️ Note:

• To disable this behavior, configure disableElasticity true.
• To control the scale of the automatic distanceFilter calculation, see elasticityMultiplier

distanceFilter is auto-scaled by rounding speed to the nearest 5 m/s and adding distanceFilter meters for each 5 m/s increment.

For example, at biking speed of 7.7 m/s with a configured distanceFilter: 30:

example

  rounded_speed = round(7.7, 5)
  => 10
  multiplier = rounded_speed / 5
  => 10 / 5 = 2
  adjusted_distance_filter = multiplier * distanceFilter
  => 2 * 30 = 60 meters

At highway speed of 27 m/s with a configured distanceFilter: 50:

example

  rounded_speed = round(27, 5)
  => 30
  multiplier = rounded_speed / 5
  => 30 / 5 = 6
  adjusted_distance_filter = multiplier * distanceFilter * elasticityMultipiler
  => 6 * 50 = 300 meters

Note the following real example of "elasticity" on highway 101 towards San Francisco as the driver slows down while running into slower traffic — locations become compressed as distanceFilter decreases.

Compare now background-geolocation in the scope of a city. In this image, the left-hand track is from a cab-ride, while the right-hand track is walking speed.

Increasing elasticityMultiplier will result in fewer location samples as speed increases. A value of 0 has the same effect as disableElasticity true.

break

Defaults to false. In this Android terminated state, where only the plugin's foreground-service remains running, you can respond to all the plugin's events with your own callback.

ℹ️ Note:

• Requires stopOnTerminate false.
• If you've configured stopOnTerminate false, BackgroundGeolocation will continue to record locations (and post them to your configured url) regardless of enabledHeadless: true. You should enable this option only if you wish to perform some custom work during the headless state (for example, posting a local notification).
• For more information, see the Wiki Android Headless Mode.

break

Some developers have reported GPS Location.timestamp issues with some Android devices. This option will append extra meta-data related to the device's system time.

Android implementation

JSONObject timestampMeta = new JSONObject();
timestampMeta.put("time", mLocation.getTime());
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1) {
    timestampMeta.put("systemClockElaspsedRealtime", SystemClock.elapsedRealtimeNanos()/1000000);
    timestampMeta.put("elapsedRealtime", mLocation.getElapsedRealtimeNanos()/1000000);
} else {
    timestampMeta.put("systemTime", System.currentTimeMillis());
}

iOS Implementation

 long long systemTime = (long long)([[NSDate date] timeIntervalSince1970] * 1000.0);
 long long locationTime = (long long)([_location.timestamp timeIntervalSince1970] * 1000.0);
 long long uptime = (long long) [self.class uptime] * 1000;

 return @{
     @"time": @(locationTime),
     @"systemTime": @(systemTime),
     @"systemClockElapsedRealtime": @(uptime)
 };

📘 See HTTP Guide

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "https://my-server.com/locations",
  extras: {
    "route_id": 1234
  },
  params: {
    "device_id": "abc123"
  }
});

Observing incoming requests at your server:

example

- POST /locations
{
  "device_id": "abc123" // <-- params appended to root of JSON
  "location": {
    "coords": {
      "latitude": 45.51927004945047,
      "longitude": -73.61650072045029,
      .
      .
      .
    },
    "extras": {  // <-- extras appended to *each* location
      "route_id": 1234
    }
  }
}

break

This controls the fastest rate at which your application will receive location updates, which might be faster than locationUpdateInterval in some situations (for example, if other applications are triggering location updates).

This allows your application to passively acquire locations at a rate faster than it actively acquires locations, saving power.

Unlike locationUpdateInterval, this parameter is exact. Your application will never receive updates faster than this value.

If you don't call this method, a fastest interval will be set to 30000 (30s).

An interval of 0 is allowed, but not recommended, since location updates may be extremely fast on future implementations.

If fastestLocationUpdateInterval is set slower than locationUpdateInterval, then your effective fastest interval is locationUpdateInterval.

ℹ️ See also:

• Android docs

deprecated

Banned in Android 10. Use Config.enableHeadless instead.

Force launch your terminated App after a device reboot or application update.

break

When the user reboots their device with BackgroundGeolocation configured with startOnBoot true, only the plugin's pure native background-service begins running, "headless", in this case. The background service will continue tracking the location. However, the background service can optionally re-launch your foreground application.

⚠️ Warning:

• When the background service re-launches your application, it will briefly appear in the foreground before immediately minimizing. If the user has their phone on at the time, they will see a brief flash of your app appearing and minimizing.

deprecated

Banned in Android 10. Use Config.enableHeadless instead.

Force launch your terminated App after a BackgroundGeolocation.onGeofence event.

break

When the user terminates your Android app with BackgroundGeolocation configured with stopOnTerminate false, the foreground MainActivity (where your Javascript app lives) will terminate — only the plugin's pure native background-service is running, "headless", in this case. The background service will continue tracking the location. However, the background service can optionally re-launch your foreground application.

⚠️ Warning:

• When the background service re-launches your application, it will briefly appear in the foreground before immediately minimizing. If the user has their phone on at the time, they will see a brief flash of your app appearing and minimizing.

deprecated

Banned in Android 10. Use Config.enableHeadless instead.

Force launch your terminated App after a BackgroundGeolocation.onHeartbeat event.

break

When the user terminates your Android app with BackgroundGeolocation configured with stopOnTerminate false, the foreground MainActivity (where your application code lives) will terminate — only the plugin's pure native background-service is running, "headless", in this case. The background service will continue tracking the location. However, the background service can optionally re-launch your foreground application.

⚠️ Warning:

• When the background service re-launches your application, it will briefly appear in the foreground before immediately minimizing. If the user has their phone on at the time, they will see a brief flash of your app appearing and minimizing.

deprecated

Banned in Android 10. Use Config.enableHeadless instead.

Force launch your terminated App after a BackgroundGeolocation.onLocation event.

break

When the user terminates your Android app with BackgroundGeolocation configured with stopOnTerminate false, the foreground MainActivity (where your Javascript app lives) will terminate — only the plugin's pure native background-service is running, "headless", in this case. The background service will continue tracking the location. However, the background service can optionally re-launch your foreground application.

⚠️ Warning:

• When the background service re-launches your application, it will briefly appear in the foreground before immediately minimizing. If the user has their phone on at the time, they will see a brief flash of your app appearing and minimizing.

deprecated

Banned in Android 10. Use Config.enableHeadless instead.

Force launch your terminated App after a BackgroundGeolocation.onMotionChange event.

break

When the user terminates your Android app with BackgroundGeolocation configured with stopOnTerminate false, the foreground MainActivity (where your Javascript app lives) will terminate — only the plugin's pure native background-service is running, "headless", in this case. The background service will continue tracking the location. However, the background service can optionally re-launch your foreground application.

⚠️ Warning:

• When the background service re-launches your application, it will briefly appear in the foreground before immediately minimizing. If the user has their phone on at the time, they will see a brief flash of your app appearing and minimizing.

deprecated

Banned in Android 10. Use Config.enableHeadless instead.

Force launch your terminated App after a BackgroundGeolocation.onSchedule event.

break

When the user terminates your Android app with BackgroundGeolocation configured with stopOnTerminate false, the foreground MainActivity (where your Javascript app lives) will terminate — only the plugin's pure native background-service is running, "headless", in this case. The background service will continue tracking the location. However, the background service can optionally re-launch your foreground application.

⚠️ Warning:

• When the background service re-launches your application, it will briefly appear in the foreground before immediately minimizing. If the user has their phone on at the time, they will see a brief flash of your app appearing and minimizing.

break

deprecated

⚠️ Android 8.0+

Defaults to true and cannot be set to false. Due to strict new Background Execution Limits in Android 8, the plugin enforces foregroundService: true.

A persistent Notification is required by the operating-system with a foreground-service. It cannot be hidden.

Android < 8.0

Defaults to false. When the Android OS is under memory pressure from other applications (eg: a phone call), the OS can and will free up memory by terminating other processes and scheduling them for re-launch when memory becomes available. If you find your tracking being terminated unexpectedly, this is why.

If you set this option to true, the plugin will run its Android service in the foreground, supplying the ongoing Notification to be shown to the user while in this state. Running as a foreground-service makes the tracking-service much more immune to OS killing it due to memory/battery pressure. By default services are background, meaning that if the system needs to kill them to reclaim more memory (such as to display a large page in a web browser).

ℹ️ See also:

• Notification
• 📘 For more information, see the Android Service docs.

Defaults to true. Set false to disable triggering a geofence immediately if device is already inside it.

break

ℹ️ See also:

• 📘 Geofencing Guide.

⚠️ Warning: Will consume more power.

Defaults to false. Runs Android's BackgroundGeolocation.startGeofences with a foreground service (along with its corresponding persistent Notification.

Configuring geofenceModeHighAccuracy: true will make Android geofence triggering far more responsive. In this mode, the usual config options to control location-services will be applied:

• desiredAccuracy (BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_MEDIUM works well).
• locationUpdateInterval
• distanceFilter
• deferTime

With the default geofenceModeHighAccuracy: false, a device will have to move farther into a geofence before the ENTER event fires and farther out of a geofence before the EXIT event fires.

The more aggressive you configure the location-update params above (at the cost of power consumption), the more responsive will be your geofence-triggering.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  geofenceModeHighAccuracy: true,
  desiredAccuracy: BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_MEDIUM,
  locationUpdateInterval: 5000,
  distanceFilter: 50
}).then((state) => {
  BackgroundGeolocation.startGeofences();
});

example

geofenceModeHighAccuracy: false (Default) — Transition events are delayed.

example

geofenceModeHighAccuracy: true — Transition events are nearly instantaneous.

The default and minimum is 1000 meters. See related event BackgroundGeolocation.onGeofencesChange. When using Geofences, the plugin activates only those in proximity (the maximum geofences allowed to be simultaneously monitored is limited by the platform, where iOS allows only 20 and Android. However, the plugin allows you to create as many geofences as you wish (thousands even). It stores these in its database and uses spatial queries to determine which 20 or 100 geofences to activate.

break

ℹ️ See also:

• 📘 Geofencing Guide.
• View animation of this behavior

break

The geofenceTemplate is similar to locationTemplate with the addition of two extra geofence.* tags.

The geofenceTemplate will be evaluated for variables using Ruby erb-style tags:

<%= variable_name %>

ℹ️ See also:

• locationTemplate
• httpRootProperty
• 📘 HTTP Guide

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  geofenceTemplate: '{ "lat":<%= latitude %>, "lng":<%= longitude %>, "geofence":"<%= geofence.identifier %>:<%= geofence.action %>" }'
});

// Or use a compact [Array] template!
BackgroundGeolocation.{(
  geofenceTemplate: '[<%= latitude %>, <%= longitude %>, "<%= geofence.identifier %>", "<%= geofence.action %>"]'
)

⚠️ quoting String data.

The plugin does not automatically apply double-quotes around String data. The plugin will attempt to JSON encode your template exactly as you're configured.

The following will generate an error:

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  locationTemplate: '{"timestamp": <%= timestamp %>}'
});

Since the template-tag timestamp renders a string, the rendered String will look like this, generating a JSON error:

example

{"timestamp": 2018-01-01T12:01:01.123Z}

The correct geofenceTemplate is:

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  geofenceTemplate: '{"timestamp": "<%= timestamp %>"}'
});

example

{"timestamp": "2018-01-01T12:01:01.123Z"}

Template Tags

The tag-list is identical to locationTemplate with the addition of geofence.identifier and geofence.action.

Tag	Type	Description
geofence.identifier	String	Which geofence?
geofence.action	String	ENTER/EXIT
latitude	Float
longitude	Float
speed	Float	Meters
heading	Float	Degrees
accuracy	Float	Meters
altitude	Float	Meters
altitude_accuracy	Float	Meters
timestamp	String	ISO-8601
uuid	String	Unique ID
event	String	motionchange,geofence,heartbeat,providerchange
odometer	Float	Meters
activity.type	String	still,on_foot,running,on_bicycle,in_vehicle,unknown
activity.confidence	Integer	0-100%
battery.level	Float	0-100%
battery.is_charging	Boolean	Is device plugged in?
mock	Boolean	true when geofence was recorded from a Mock location app.
is_moving	Boolean	true if geofence was recorded while device was in moving state.
timestampMeta	Object	Renders timestamp meta-data. See Config.enableTimestampMeta.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "https://my.server.com",
  headers: {
    "authorization": "Bearer <a secret key>",
    "X-FOO": "BAR"
  }
});

Observing incoming requests at your server:

POST /locations
{
  "host": "tracker.transistorsoft.com",
  "content-type": "application/json",
  "content-length": "456"
  .
  .
  .
  "authorization": "Bearer <a secret key>",
  "X-FOO": "BAR"
}

ℹ️ Note:

• The plugin automatically applies a number of required headers, including "content-type": "application/json"

break

⚠️ Warning:

• On iOS the BackgroundGeolocation.onHeartbeat event will fire only when configured with preventSuspend true.
• Android minimum interval is 60 seconds. It is impossible to have a heartbeatInterval faster than this on Android.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  heartbeatInterval: 60
});

BackgroundGeolocation.onHeartbeat((event) => {
  console.log("[onHeartbeat] ", event);

  // You could request a new location if you wish.
  BackgroundGeolocation.getCurrentPosition({
    samples: 1,
    persist: true
  }).then((location) => {
    console.log("[getCurrentPosition] ", location);
  });
});

ℹ️ See also:

• BackgroundGeolocation.onHeartbeat

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  httpRootProperty: "myData",
  url: "https://my.server.com"
});

{
    "myData":{
        "coords": {
            "latitude":23.232323,
            "longitude":37.373737
        }
    }
}

You may also specify the character httpRootProperty:"." to place your data in the root of the JSON:

example

{
    "coords": {
        "latitude":23.232323,
        "longitude":37.373737
    }
}

ℹ️ See also:

• locationTemplate
• geofenceTemplate
• 📘 HTTP Guide

HTTP request timeouts will fire the BackgroundGeolocation.onHttp. Defaults to 60000 ms.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.onHttp((response) => {
  let success = response.success;
  if (!success) {
    console.log("[onHttp] FAILURE: ", response);
  }
});

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "https://my-server.com/locations",
  httpTimeout: 3000
);

ℹ️ See also:

• 📘 See HTTP Guide

The plugin will immediately enter the tracking-state, by-passing the stationary state. If the device is not currently moving, the stop-detection system will still engage. After stopTimeout minutes without movement, the plugin will enter the stationary state, as usual.

example

let state = await BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  isMoving: true
});

if (!state.enabled) {
  BackgroundGeolocation.start();
}
// Location-services are now on and the plugin is recording a location
// each <a href="config.html#distancefilter">distanceFilter</a> meters.

break

When you configure the plugin locationAuthorizationRequest Always or WhenInUse and the user changes the mode in the app's location-services settings or disabled location-services, the plugin will display an Alert dialog directing the user to the Settings screen. locationAuthorizationAlert allows you to configure all the Strings for that Alert popup and accepts an {} containing the following keys:

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  locationAuthorizationAlert: {
    titleWhenNotEnabled: "Yo, location-services not enabled",
    titleWhenOff: "Yo, location-services OFF",
    instructions: "You must enable 'Always' in location-services, buddy",
    cancelButton: "Cancel",
    settingsButton: "Settings"
  }
})

⚠️ Warning:

• If you choose to configure locationAuthorizationAlert, you must provide ALL the keys of LocationAuthorizationAlert keys — not just some.

break

locationAuthorizationRequest tells the plugin the mode it expects to have been authorized with by the user. Defaults to Always. If you don't care what the user authorizes, you may configure locationAuthorizationRequest: "Any".

If you configure locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always' but the user authorizes only [When in Use] , the plugin will detect this and show the locationAuthorizationAlert dialog (see disableLocationAuthorizationAlert to disable this behaviour).

iOS

---

iOS 13 introduced a significant modification to location authorization (See this blog entry). No longer will the [Always allow] option appear on the initial authorization dialog. Instead, iOS will prompt the user with a second "authorization upgrade" dialog, asking the user if they'd like to grant [Keep Only While Using ] or [Change to Always Allow].

1. locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always':

If your app requests locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always', the user must first authorize [Alow While Using App], followed immediately by a second dialog prompting the user to upgrade location authorization with [Change to Always Allow]:

If the user denies Always authorization, the locationAuthorizationAlert will be shown (see disableLocationAuthorizationAlert to disable this behaviour).

2. locationAuthorizationRequest: 'WhenInUse':

Only the initial dialog will be shown:

However, if your app later uses setConfig to change locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always', iOS will immediately show the "authorization upgrade" dialog:

3. locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Any':

The SDK will request Always authorization. The initial location authorization dialog will be shown:

However, at some unknown time in the future, iOS will prompt the user with the location authorization upgrade dialog:

example

onAppLaunch() {
  // Initially configure for 'WhenInUse'.
  BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
    locationAuthorizationRequest: 'WhenInUse',
    .
    .
    .
  });
}

async onClickStartTracking() {
  // Initial location authorization dialog for "When in Use" authotization
  // will be shown here.
  await BackgroundGeolocation.start();
  // some time later -- could be immediately after, hours later, days later, etc.,
  // you can upgrade the config to 'Always' whenever you wish:
  upgradeToAlwaysAllow();
}

upgradeToAlwaysAllow() {
  // Simply update `locationAuthorizationRequest` to "Always" -- the SDK
  // will cause iOS to immediately show the authorization upgrade dialog
  // for "Change to Always Allow":
  BackgroundGeolocation.setConfig({
    locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always'
  });
}

 

Android

---

Android 10

Like iOS 12, Android 10 now forces your app to offer both [Allow all the time] and [Allow only while using] options.

Android 11+ (with targetSdkVersion 30+)

Just as in iOS 13/14, Android 11 has changed location authorization and no longer offers the [Allow all the time] button on the location authorization dialog. Instead, Android now offers a hook to present a custom dialog to the user where you will explain exactly why you require "Allow all the time" location permission.

This dialog can forward the user directly to your application's Location Permissions screen, where the user must explicity authorize [Allow all the time]. The Background Geolocation SDK will present this dialog, which can be customized with Config.backgroundPermissionRationale.

• Android will offer the Config.backgroundPermissionRationale dialog just once. Once the user presses the positiveAction on the dialog, it will not be shown again (pressing [Cancel] button does not count).
• If the user resets your application's Location Permissions to [Ask every time], the Config.backgroundPermissionRationale can be shown once again.

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
 locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always',
 backgroundPermissionRationale: {
  title: "Allow access to this device's location in the background?",
  message: "In order to allow X, Y and Z, please enable 'Allow all the time permission",
  positiveAction: "Change to Allow all the time"
 }
});

1. locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always':

If your app requests locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always', the user must first authorize [While using the app], followed immediately by the Config.backgroundPermissionRationale dialog prompting the user to upgrade location permission with [Allow all the time]:

2. locationAuthorizationRequest: 'WhenInUse':

Only the initial dialog will be shown:

However, if your app later uses setConfig to change locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always', the SDK will immediately show the Config.backgroundPermissionRationale dialog:

3. locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Any':

Same as Always

Android 11+ (with targetSdkVersion <=29)

Just to add a bit more confusion, for Android 11+ devices and your app built with targetSdkVersion 29, Android will present an extra dialog after the user clicks through on the Config.backgroundPermissionRationale dialog, where the user is prompted with a link _"Allow in Settings"*, rather than forwarding them directly to the Location Permissions screen, as with targetSdkVersion 30+:

break

The locationTemplate will be evaluated for variables using Ruby erb-style tags:

<%= variable_name %>

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  locationTemplate: '{"lat":<%= latitude %>,"lng":<%= longitude %>,"event":"<%= event %>",isMoving:<%= is_moving %>}'
});

// Or use a compact [Array] template!
BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  locationTemplate: '[<%=latitude%>, <%=longitude%>, "<%=event%>", <%=is_moving%>]'
))

⚠️ quoting String data.

The plugin does not automatically apply double-quotes around String data. The plugin will attempt to JSON encode your template exactly as you're configured.

The following will generate an error:

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  locationTemplate: '{"timestamp": <%= timestamp %>}'
});

Since the template-tag timestamp renders a string, the rendered String will look like this, generating a JSON error:

example

{"timestamp": 2018-01-01T12:01:01.123Z}

The correct locationTemplate is:

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  locationTemplate: '{"timestamp": "<%= timestamp %>"}'
});

example

{"timestamp": "2018-01-01T12:01:01.123Z"}

Configured extras:

If you've configured extras, these key-value pairs will be merged directly onto your location data. For example:

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  httpRootProperty: 'data',
  locationTemplate: '{"lat":<%= latitude %>,"lng":<%= longitude %>}',
  extras: {
    "foo": "bar"
  }
)

Will result in JSON:

example

{
    "data": {
        "lat":23.23232323,
        "lng":37.37373737,
        "foo":"bar"
    }
}

Template Tags

Tag	Type	Description
latitude	Float
longitude	Float
speed	Float	Meters
heading	Float	Degrees
accuracy	Float	Meters
altitude	Float	Meters
altitude_accuracy	Float	Meters
timestamp	String	ISO-8601
uuid	String	Unique ID
event	String	motionchange,geofence,heartbeat,providerchange
odometer	Float	Meters
activity.type	String	still,on_foot,running,on_bicycle,in_vehicle,unknown
activity.confidence	Integer	0-100%
battery.level	Float	0-100%
battery.is_charging	Boolean	Is device plugged in?
mock	Boolean	true when location was recorded from a Mock location app.
is_moving	Boolean	true if location was recorded while device was in moving state.
timestampMeta	Object	Renders timestamp meta-data. See Config.enableTimestampMeta.

ℹ️ See also:

• 📘 HTTP Guide
• geofenceTemplate
• httpRootProperty

Defaults to 60 seconds.

example

// With onLocation event
BackgroundGeolocation.onLocation((Location location) => {
  console.log('[onLocation] success:', location);
}, ((error) => {
  if (error.code == 408) {
    console.log("[onLocation] error: LOCATION TIMEOUT", error);
  }
});

// With getCurrentPosition:
try {
  let location = await BackgroundGeolocation.getCurrentPosition({samples: 3});
} catch((error) => {
  if (error.code == 408) {
    console.log("[getCurrentPosition] error: LOCATION TIMEOUT",  error);
  }
});

See Also:

• BackgroundGeolocation.getCurrentPosition
• BackgroundGeolocation.onLocation

break

⚠️ Note:

• To use locationUpdateInterval you must also configure distanceFilter 0, since distanceFilter overrides locationUpdateInterval.

Set the desired interval for active location updates, in milliseconds.

The location client will actively try to obtain location updates for your application at this interval, so it has a direct influence on the amount of power used by your application. Choose your interval wisely.

This interval is inexact. You may not receive updates at all (if no location sources are available), or you may receive them slower than requested. You may also receive them faster than requested (if other applications are requesting location at a faster interval).

Applications with only the coarse location permission may have their interval silently throttled.\

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  distanceFilter: 0,            // Must be 0 or locationUpdateInterval is ignored!
  locationUpdateInterval: 5000  // Get a location every 5 seconds
});

ℹ️ See also:

• For more information, see the Android docs

Defaults to ascending (ASC), where oldest locations are synced first. Descending (DESC) uploads latest locations first.

ℹ️ See also:

• 📘 See HTTP Guide

BackgroundGeolocation contains powerful logging features. By default, the plugin boots with a value of BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_OFF, storing logMaxDays (default 3) days worth of logs in its SQLite database.

The following log-levels are defined as constants on this BackgroundGeolocation class:

Label
BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_OFF
BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_ERROR
BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_WARNING
BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_INFO
BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_VERBOSE

break

Example log data:

09-19 11:12:18.716 ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
09-19 11:12:18.716 ║ BackgroundGeolocation Service started
09-19 11:12:18.716 ╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
09-19 11:12:18.723 [c.t.l.BackgroundGeolocationService d]
09-19 11:12:18.723   ✅  Started in foreground
09-19 11:12:18.737 [c.t.l.ActivityRecognitionService a]
09-19 11:12:18.737   🎾  Start activity updates: 10000
09-19 11:12:18.761 [c.t.l.BackgroundGeolocationService k]
09-19 11:12:18.761   🔴  Stop heartbeat
09-19 11:12:18.768 [c.t.l.BackgroundGeolocationService a]
09-19 11:12:18.768   🎾  Start heartbeat (60)
09-19 11:12:18.778 [c.t.l.BackgroundGeolocationService a]
09-19 11:12:18.778   🔵  setPace: null → false
09-19 11:12:18.781 [c.t.l.adapter.TSConfig c] ℹ️   Persist config
09-19 11:12:18.794 [c.t.locationmanager.util.b a]
09-19 11:12:18.794   ℹ️  LocationAuthorization: Permission granted
09-19 11:12:18.842 [c.t.l.http.HttpService flush]
09-19 11:12:18.842 ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
09-19 11:12:18.842 ║ HTTP Service
09-19 11:12:18.842 ╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
09-19 11:12:19.000 [c.t.l.BackgroundGeolocationService onActivityRecognitionResult] still (100%)
09-19 11:12:21.314 [c.t.l.l.SingleLocationRequest$2 onLocationResult]
09-19 11:12:21.314 ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
09-19 11:12:21.314 ║ SingleLocationRequest: 1
09-19 11:12:21.314 ╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
09-19 11:12:21.314 ╟─ 📍  Location[fused 45.519239,-73.617058 hAcc=15]999923706055 vAcc=2 sAcc=??? bAcc=???
09-19 11:12:21.327 [c.t.l.l.TSLocationManager onSingleLocationResult]
09-19 11:12:21.327   🔵  Acquired motionchange position, isMoving: false
09-19 11:12:21.342 [c.t.l.l.TSLocationManager a] 15.243
09-19 11:12:21.405 [c.t.locationmanager.data.a.c persist]
09-19 11:12:21.405   ✅  INSERT: bca5acc8-e358-4d8f-827f-b8c0d556b7bb
09-19 11:12:21.423 [c.t.l.http.HttpService flush]
09-19 11:12:21.423 ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
09-19 11:12:21.423 ║ HTTP Service
09-19 11:12:21.423 ╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
09-19 11:12:21.446 [c.t.locationmanager.data.a.c first]
09-19 11:12:21.446   ✅  Locked 1 records
09-19 11:12:21.454 [c.t.l.http.HttpService a]
09-19 11:12:21.454   🔵  HTTP POST: bca5acc8-e358-4d8f-827f-b8c0d556b7bb
09-19 11:12:22.083 [c.t.l.http.HttpService$a onResponse]
09-19 11:12:22.083   🔵  Response: 200
09-19 11:12:22.100 [c.t.locationmanager.data.a.c destroy]
09-19 11:12:22.100   ✅  DESTROY: bca5acc8-e358-4d8f-827f-b8c0d556b7bb
09-19 11:12:55.226 [c.t.l.BackgroundGeolocationService onActivityRecognitionResult] still (100%)

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  logLevel: BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_VERBOSE
});

ℹ️ See also:

• BackgroundGeolocation.getLog
• BackgroundGeolocation.emailLog
• logMaxDays
• destroyLog

⚠️ Warning:

• When submitting your app to production, take care to configure the logLevel appropriately (eg: BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_ERROR) since the logs can grow to several megabytes over a period of logMaxDays.

break

Defaults to 3 days.

See also:

• logLevel

break

Defaults to -1 (no maximum). If you've enabled HTTP feature by configuring an url with batchSync true, this parameter will limit the number of records attached to each batch request. If the current number of records exceeds the maxBatchSize, multiple HTTP requests will be generated until the location queue is empty.

The plugin can potentially accumulate mega-bytes worth of location-data if operating in a disconnected environment for long periods. You will not want to batchSync true a large amount of data in a single HTTP request.

ℹ️ See also:

• batchSync 📘 See HTTP Guide

break

When your server fails to respond with HTTP 200 OK, the plugin will continue periodically attempting to upload to your server server until maxDaysToPersist when it will give up and remove the location from the database.

Default -1 means no limit.

ℹ️ See also:

• 📘 See HTTP Guide

Defaults to POST. Valid values are POST, PUT and OPTIONS.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "http://my-server.com/locations",
  method: "PUT"
});

ℹ️ See also:

• 📘 See HTTP Guide

deprecated

No longer used.

This can help prevent false-positive motion-triggering when one moves about their home, for example. Only if the Motion API stays in the moving state for motionTriggerDelay milliseconds will the plugin trigger into the moving state and begin tracking the location. If the Motion API returns to the still state before motionTriggerDelay times-out, the trigger to the moving state will be cancelled.

example

// Delay Android motion-triggering by 30000ms
BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  motionTriggerDelay: 30000
})

break

The following logcat shows an Android device detecting motion on_foot but returning to still before motionTriggerDelay expires, cancelling the transition to the moving state (see ⏰ Cancel OneShot: MOTION_TRIGGER_DELAY):

logcat

 04-08 10:58:03.419 TSLocationManager: ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
 04-08 10:58:03.419 TSLocationManager: ║ Motion Transition Result
 04-08 10:58:03.419 TSLocationManager: ╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
 04-08 10:58:03.419 TSLocationManager: ╟─ 🔴  EXIT: still
 04-08 10:58:03.419 TSLocationManager: ╟─ 🎾  ENTER: on_foot
 04-08 10:58:03.419 TSLocationManager: ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════
 04-08 10:58:03.416 TSLocationManager:   ⏰ Scheduled OneShot: MOTION_TRIGGER_DELAY in 30000ms
 .
 . <motionTriggerDelay timer started>
 .
 04-08 10:58:19.385 TSLocationManager: ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
 04-08 10:58:19.385 TSLocationManager: ║ Motion Transition Result
 04-08 10:58:19.385 TSLocationManager: ╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
 04-08 10:58:19.385 TSLocationManager: ╟─ 🔴  EXIT: on_foot
 04-08 10:58:19.385 TSLocationManager: ╟─ 🎾  ENTER: still
 04-08 10:58:19.385 TSLocationManager: ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════
 04-08 10:58:19.381 TSLocationManager: [c.t.l.s.TSScheduleManager cancelOneShot]
 04-08 10:58:19.381 TSLocationManager:   ⏰ Cancel OneShot: MOTION_TRIGGER_DELAY <-- timer cancelled

See Notification for detailed usage.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  notification: {
    title: "Background tracking engaged",
    text: "My notification text"
  }
})

deprecated

deprecated

deprecated

deprecated

deprecated

deprecated

deprecated

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "https://my-server.com/locations",
  params: {
    "user_id": 1234,
    "device_id": "abc123"
  }
);

Observing the HTTP request arriving at your server:

example

POST /locations
 {
  "location": {
    "coords": {
      "latitude": 45.51927004945047,
      "longitude": -73.61650072045029
      .
      .
      .
    }
  },
  "user_id": 1234,  // <-- params appended to the data.
  "device_id": "abc123"
}

ℹ️ See also:

• headers
• extras
• 📘 HTTP Guide

break

⚠️ Warning:

• This option should generally be left undefined. You should only specify this option if you know exactly what you're doing.

The default behavior of the plugin is to turn off location-services automatically when the device is detected to be stationary for stopTimeout minutes. When set to false, location-services will never be turned off (and disableStopDetection will automatically be set to true) — it's your responsibility to turn them off when you no longer need to track the device. This feature should not generally be used. preventSuspend will no longer work either.

Note that all recorded location and geofence events will always be provided to your [BackgroundGeolocation.onLocation] and [BackgroundGeolocation.onGeofence] events, just that the persistence of those events in the SDK's internal SQLite database can be limited. Any event which has not been persisted to the SDK's internal database will also not therefore be uploaded to your [url] (if configured).

Name	Description
BackgroundGeolocation.PERSIST_MODE_ALL	(DEFAULT) Persist both geofence and location events
BackgroundGeolocation.PERSIST_MODE_LOCATION	Persist only location events (ignore geofence events)
BackgroundGeolocation.PERSIST_MODE_GEOFENCE	Persist only geofence events (ignore location events)
BackgroundGeolocation.PERSIST_MODE_NONE	Persist nothing (neither geofence nor location events)

⚠️ Warning

This option is designed for specializd use-cases and should generally not be used. For example, some might wish to run the plugin in regular tracking mode with BackgroundGeolocation.start but only record geofence events. In this case, one would configure persistMode: BackgroundGeolocation.PERSIST_MODE_GEOFENCE.

break

Defaults to false. Set true to prevent iOS from suspending your application after location-services have been switched off while running in the background. Must be used in conjunction with a heartbeatInterval.

⚠️ Warning:

• preventSuspend: true should only be used in very specific use-cases and should typically not be used as it will have a very noticeable impact on battery performance. You should carefully manage preventSuspend, engaging it for controlled periods-of-time. You should not expect to run your app in this mode 24 hours / day, 7 days-a-week.
• When a device is unplugged form power with the screen off, iOS will still throttle BackgroundGeolocation.onHeartbeat events about 2 minutes after entering the background state. However, if the screen is lit up or even the slightest device-motion is detected, BackgroundGeolocation.onHeartbeat events will immediately resume.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.onHeartbeat((event) => {
  console.log("[onHeartbeat] ", event);
});

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  preventSuspend: true,
  heartbeatInterval: 60
});

ℹ️ See also:

• heartbeatInterval
• BackgroundGeolocation.onHeartbeat

Defaults to true. The SDK can optionally re-apply its persisted configuration with each boot of your application, ignoring the config {} supplied to the #ready method.

break

Optionally, you can specify reset: false to BackgroundGeolocation.ready.

example

await BackgroundGeolocation.setConfig({
  distanceFilter: 100
});

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  reset: false,  // <-- set false to ALWAYS re-apply persisted configuration, ignoring config provided to `#ready`
  distanceFilter: 50
}, (state) => {
  console.log("Ready with reset: false: ", state.distanceFilter);  // <-- 100, not 10
});

example

  "{DAY(s)} {START_TIME}-{END_TIME}"

• The START_TIME, END_TIME are in 24h format.
• The DAY param corresponds to the Locale.US, such that Sunday=1; Saturday=7).
• You may configure a single day (eg: 1), a comma-separated list-of-days (eg: 2,4,6) or a range (eg: 2-6)

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  .
  .
  .
  schedule: [
    "1 17:30-21:00",    // Sunday: 5:30pm-9:00pm
    "2-6 9:00-17:00",   // Mon-Fri: 9:00am to 5:00pm
    "2,4,6 20:00-00:00",// Mon, Web, Fri: 8pm to midnight (next day)
    "7 10:00-19:00"     // Sat: 10am-7pm
  ]
}).then((state) => {
  // Start the Scheduler
  BackgroundGeolocation.startSchedule();
});

// Listen to #onSchedule events:
BackgroundGeolocation.onSchedule((state) => {
  let enabled = state.enabled;
  console.log("[onSchedule] - enabled? ", enabled);
});
.
.
.
// Later when you want to stop the Scheduler (eg: user logout)
BackgroundGeolocation.stopSchedule();
// You must explicitly stop tracking if currently enabled
BackgroundGeolocation.stop();

// Or modify the schedule with usual #setConfig method
BackgroundGeolocation.setConfig({
  schedule: [
    "1-7 9:00-10:00",
    "1-7 11:00-12:00",
    "1-7 13:00-14:00",
    "1-7 15:00-16:00",
    "1-7 17:00-18:00",
    "2,4,6 19:00-22:00"
  ]
});

Literal Dates

The schedule can also be configured with a literal start date of the form:

example

  "yyyy-mm-dd HH:mm-HH:mm"

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  schedule: [
    "2018-01-01 09:00-17:00"
  ]
});

Or two literal dates to specify both a start and stop date:

example

  "yyyy-mm-dd-HH:mm yyyy-mm-dd-HH:mm"

example

schedule: [
    "2018-01-01-09:00 2019-01-01-17:00"  // <-- track for 1 year
  ]

Scheduling Geofences-only or Location + Geofences Tracking

You can choose to schedule either geofences-only (BackgroundGeolocation.startGeofences) or location + geofences (BackgroundGeolocation.start) tracking with each configured schedule by appending the text geofence or location (default):

In the following schedule, the SDK will engage location + geofences tracking between 9am to 5pm. From 6pm to midnight, only geofences will be monitored.

schedule: [
  "1-7 09:00-17:00 location",
  "1-7 18:00-12:00 geofence"
]

Since location is the default tracking-mode, it can be omitted:

schedule: [
  "1-7 09:00-10:00",  // <-- location is default
  "1-7 10:00-11:00 geofence"
  "1-7 12:00-13:00",
  "1-7 13:00-14:00 geofence"

iOS

• iOS cannot evaluate the Schedule at the exact time you configure — it can only evaluate the schedule periodically, whenever your app comes alive.
• When the app is running in a scheduled off period, iOS will continue to monitor the low-power, significant location changes API (SLC) in order to ensure periodic schedule evaluation. SLC is required in order guarantee periodic schedule-evaluation when you're configured stopOnTerminate false, since the iOS Background Fetch API is halted if user manually terminates the app. SLC will awaken your app whenever a "significant location change" occurs, typically every 1000 meters. If the schedule is currently in an off period, this location will not be persisted nor will it be sent to the BackgroundGeolocation.onLocation event — only the schedule will be evaluated.
• When a schedule is provided on iOS, it will be evaluated in the following cases:
  • Application pause / resume events.
  • Whenever a location is recorded (including SLC)
  • Background fetch event

Android

The Android Scheduler uses AlarmManager and typically operates on-the-minute.

ℹ️ See also:

• startSchedule
• stopSchedule

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  schedule: ["1-7 09:00-17:00"],
  scheduleUseAlarmManager: true
});

The default value of this property is true. The background location usage indicator is a blue bar or a blue pill in the status bar on iOS; on watchOS the indicator is a small icon. Users can tap the indicator to return to your app.

This property affects only apps that received Always authorization. When such an app moves to the background, the system uses this property to determine whether to change the status bar appearance to indicate that location services are in use. Set this value to true to maintain transparency with the user.

For apps with When In Use authorization, the system changes the appearance of the status bar when the app uses location services in the background.

The measurement is in meters/second. The default is to throw away any location which apparently moved at 300 meters/second from last known location.

Defaults to false. Set true to engage background-tracking after the device reboots.

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iOS

iOS cannot immediately engage tracking after a device reboot. Just like stopOnTerminate false, iOS will not re-boot your app until the device moves beyond the stationary geofence around the last known location. In addition, iOS subscribes to "background-fetch" events, which typically fire about every 15 minutes — these too are capable of rebooting your app after a device reboot.

Android

ℹ️ See also:

• enableHeadless

⚠️ Note: iOS will not detect the exact moment the device moves out of the stationary-radius. In normal conditions, it will typically

take ~200 meters of movement before the plugin begins tracking.

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Configuring stationaryRadius: 0 has NO EFFECT. In fact the plugin enforces a minimum stationaryRadius of 25 and in-practice, the native API won't respond for at least 200 meters.

The following image shows the typical distance iOS requires to detect exit of the stationaryRadius:

• Green polylines: represent a transition from stationary state to moving (~200 meters).
• Red circles: locations where the plugin entered the stationary state.

ℹ️ See also:

• 📘 Philosophy of Operation

The plugin can optionally automatically stop after some number of minutes elapses after the start method was called.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  stopAfterElapsedMinutes: 30
}).then((state) => {
  BackgroundGeolocation.start();  // <-- plugin will automatically #stop in 30 minutes
});

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Defaults to 0 (no delay). Allows the stop-detection system to be delayed from activating. When the stop-detection system is engaged, location-services will be temporarily turned off and only the accelerometer is monitored. Stop-detection will only engage if this timer expires. The timer is cancelled if any movement is detected before expiration. If a value of 0 is specified, the stop-detection system will engage as soon as the device is detected to be stationary.

You can experience the iOS stop-detection system at work by configuring debug true. After the device stops moving (stopped at a traffic light, for example), the plugin will emit a Lullabye sound-effect and local-notifications about "Location-services: OFF / ON".

iOS Stop-detection timing

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The plugin can optionally automatically stop tracking when the stopTimeout timer elapses. For example, when the plugin first fires BackgroundGeolocation.onMotionChange into the moving state, the next time an onMotionChange event occurs into the stationary state, the plugin will have automatically called BackgroundGeolocation.stop upon itself.

⚠️ stopOnStationary will only occur due to stopTimeout timer elapse. It will not occur by manually executing BackgroundGeolocation.changePace false.

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  stopOnStationary: true,
  isMoving: true
}, (state) => {
  BackgroundGeolocation.start();
});

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Defaults to true. When the user terminates the app, the plugin will BackgroundGeolocation.stop tracking. Set this to false to continue tracking after application terminate.

If you do configure stopOnTerminate: false, your application will terminate at that time. However, both Android and iOS differ in their behavior after this point:

iOS

Before an iOS app terminates, the plugin will ensure that a stationary geofence of stationaryRadius meters is created around the last known position. When the user moves beyond the stationary geofence (typically ~200 meters), iOS will completely reboot your application in the background, and the plugin will resume tracking. iOS maintains geofence monitoring at the OS level, in spite of application terminate / device reboot.

In the following image, imagine the user terminated the application at the "red circle" on the right, then continued moving: Once the device moves by about 200 meters, exiting the "stationary geofence", iOS reboots the app and tracking resumes.

ℹ️ Demo Video of stopOnTerminate: false

Android

Unlike iOS, the Android plugin's tracking will not pause at all when user terminates the app. However, only the plugin's native background service continues to operate, "headless" (in this case, you should configure an url in order for the background-service to continue uploading locations to your server).

ℹ️ See also:

• Android Headless Mode
• enableHeadless

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Defaults to 5 minutes. When in the moving state, specifies the number of minutes to wait before turning off location-services and transitioning to stationary state after the ActivityRecognition System detects the device is STILL. An example use-case for this configuration is to delay GPS OFF while in a car waiting at a traffic light.

⚠️ Setting a value > 15 min is not recommended, particularly for Android.

ℹ️ See also:

• onMotionChange
• 📘 Philosophy of Operation

See TransistorAuthorizationToken. This option will automatically configures the url to point at the Demo server as well as well as the required Authorization configuration.

example

let token = await
  BackgroundGeolocation.findOrCreateTransistorAuthorizationToken("my-company-name", "my-username");

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  transistorAuthorizationToken: token
});

This convenience option merely performs the following Authorization configuration automatically for you:

example

// Base url to Transistor Demo Server.
const url = "http://tracker.transistorsoft.com";

// Register for an authorization token from server.
let token = await
  BackgroundGeolocation.findOrCreateTransistorAuthorizationToken("my-company-name", "my-username");

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: url + "/api/locations",
  authorization: {
    strategy: "JWT",
    accessToken: token.accessToken,
    refreshToken: token.refreshToken,
    refreshUrl: url + "/v2/refresh_token",
    refreshPayload: {
      refresh_token: "{refreshToken}"
    },
    expires: token.expires
  }
});

⚠️ Warning: Requires that the user grant your app the "Motion/Health" permission.

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These are the comma-delimited list of activity-names returned by the ActivityRecognition API which will trigger a state-change from stationary to moving. By default, the plugin will trigger on any of the moving-states:

Activity Name
in_vehicle
on_bicycle
on_foot
running
walking

If you wish, you can configure the plugin to only engage the moving state for vehicles-only by providing just "in_vehicle", for example.

example

// Only trigger tracking for vehicles
BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  triggerActivities: "in_vehicle"
);

// Only trigger tracking for on_foot, walking and running
BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  triggerActivities: "on_foot, walking, running"
);

example

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
  url: "https://my-server.com/locations"
});

You can observe the plugin performing HTTP requests in the logs for both iOS and Android (See Wiki Debugging):

example

╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
║ LocationService: location
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
╟─ 📍 Location[45.519199,-73.617054]
✅ INSERT: 70727f8b-df7d-48d0-acbd-15f10cacdf33
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════
║ HTTP Service
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════
✅ Locked 1 records
🔵 HTTP POST: 70727f8b-df7d-48d0-acbd-15f10cacdf33
🔵 Response: 200
✅ DESTROY: 70727f8b-df7d-48d0-acbd-15f10cacdf33

#	Log entry	Description
1	📍Location	Location received from native Location API.
2	✅INSERT	Location record inserted into SDK's SQLite database.
3	✅Locked	SDK's HTTP service locks a record (to prevent duplicate HTTP uploads).
4	🔵HTTP POST	SDK's HTTP service attempts an HTTP request to your configured url.
5	🔵Response	Response from your server.
6	✅DESTROY|UNLOCK	After your server returns a 20x response, the SDK deletes that record from it SQLite database. Otherwise, the SDK will UNLOCK that record and try again in the future.

HTTP Failures

If your server does not return a 20x response (eg: 200, 201, 204), the SDK will UNLOCK that record. Another attempt to upload once again in the future until maxDaysToPersist:

• When another location is recorded.
• Application pause / resume events.
• Application boot.
• onHeartbeat events.
• onConnectivityChange events.
• [iOS] Background fetch events.

⚠️ Note:

It is highly recommended to let the plugin manage uploading locations to your server, particularly for Android when configured with stopOnTerminate: false, since MainActivity (where your application code lives) will terminate — only the plugin's native Android background service will continue to operate, recording locations and uploading to your server. The SDK's native HTTP service is better at this task, since the SDK will automatically retry on server failure.

ℹ️ See also:

• 📘 HTTP Guide
• 📘 Philosophy of Operation

Defaults to false. A location will be recorded only every 500 to 1000 meters (can be higher in non urban environments; depends upon the spacing of Cellular towers). Many of the plugin's configuration parameters will have no effect, such as distanceFilter, stationaryRadius, activityType, etc.

Using significantChangesOnly: true will provide significant power-saving at the expense of fewer recorded locations.

iOS

Engages the iOS Significant Location Changes API API for only periodic location updates every 500-1000 meters.

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⚠️ If Apple has rejected your application, refusing to grant your app the privilege of using the UIBackgroundMode: "location", this can be a solution.

Android

A location will be recorded several times per hour while the device is in the moving state. No foreground-service will be run (nor its corresponding persistent Notification).

example

useSignificantChangesOnly: true

example

useSignificantChangesOnly: false (Default)